What do you think?
Clean concrete sand and crushed stone mix, slightly damp.
Regular old round shovel like on any construction site.
How many shovels of the mix to make a cubic foot?
I don’t know what I ever did with my old measuring box, so I’ll make another this week and post the result. A 2×6 box 17-3/3 inch square (inside) struck level is a cubic foot.
And so is a 94 pound sack of cement.
Listeners write in about fireplaces and ask questions about sharpening hand tools, easier wiring upgrades, and fixing cedar siding.
"I have learned so much thanks to the searchable articles on the FHB website. I can confidently say that I expect to be a life-long subscriber." - M.K.
Dig into cutting-edge approaches and decades of proven solutions with total access to our experts and tradespeople.
Start Free Trial NowGet instant access to the latest developments in green building, research, and reports from the field.
Start Free Trial Now
Replies
My square shovel used for throwing reclaim and cement into the mixer is about 4-1/2 shovels full per cu ft.
Probably a few more for a round shovel.
5-8 depending how you heap it.
Welcome to the
Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime.
where ...
Excellence is its own reward!
9 square shovels. that how many we use making mortar,
Fastest way to F-up a block wall...let a concrete guy mix the mortar!!!:o).
.
"After the laws of Physics, everything else is opinion" -Neil deGrasse Tyson
.
.
.
If Pasta and Antipasta meet is it the end of the Universe???
I don't use a shovelfuls to make mortar--both because my mind wanders as I count off the shovelfuls needed (16-18 per bag) and because a shovelful is an inexact measure. Instead, I fill three drywall buckets with sand and one with mortar.
Here are some 5-gal. bucket measurements:
40 five-gallon buckets = 1 cubic yard
1 five-gallon bucket = .668 cubic ft.
1.5 five gallon buckets = 1 cubic ft.
4.5 five gallon buckets = 3 cubic feet (the amount of sand needed to mix one standard bag of mortar).
That's some handy info. Thanks.
i always work with shovels pile of aggregate, pile of sand, open bag of cement
all the shovels are the same....only variance is how many ( eg....1-3-5 )
the shovels go straight into the mixerMike Hussein Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore
"the shovels go straight into the mixer"
You must buy a lot of shovels.Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
Repairs, Remodeling, Restorations
They kill Prophets, for Profits.
and ear plugs!!.
.
"After the laws of Physics, everything else is opinion" -Neil deGrasse Tyson
.
.
.
If Pasta and Antipasta meet is it the end of the Universe???
Mudslinger,
Duh.
Found it.
Thnx.
J.
Like the old children's joke about how many balls of string does it take to reach the moon.
Just one if it is big enough.
The problem is you are right and I happen to own a few of those kind of shovels. You know, the diesel powered ones. <G>I just want to mix a small amount of concrete for some big post holes. Six or eight years ago I knew this off the top of my head, but I've slept since then so that info is gone.
Dig an extra post-hole, fill it up counting the shovel fulls, viola!
I wanna come work for you.We might not get much done, but if we got some government contracts we could make a lot of money, and best of all we'd never stop laughing.
No fair!I actually do work gov't contracts...
Or how many makes five. Two in each hand ond one in my mouth.
Back in Collitch I had a summer job (Summer help, summer not) at the county DOT.
we would mix and pour a catch basin every morning.
17 shovels of gravel
6 shovels of sand
2 -3 shovels of schment (ONE syllable!!)
water varied with MC of other ingredients.
No clue as to how many CF but the ratio should be the same...
.
.
"After the laws of Physics, everything else is opinion"
-Neil deGrasse Tyson
.
.
.
If Pasta and Antipasta meet is it the end of the Universe???
That actually sounds about right.I do remember that if one is using separate piles of stone, sand, and cement, a 1:2:3 mix is very strong and generates about 3.25 (of whatever units you're using) of concrete.Of course the sand fills in the empty space in the stone, and the cement fills in the empty space in the sand.And Breaktime fills in the empty space in my head when it's snowing. <G>What got me to post the original question is the sand/stone mix I had delivered leaves me with no idea of what the proportions are. So I got thinking about I don't want to waste cement, and I want this strong but not too strong, so what's a good proportion and a good way to figure it out.Usually I figure it out by calling the redi-mix plant. Won't work this time.
you could: fill up your 1 CF box with the sand stone mix.add H2O till it is saturatedweigh itdry it completely in an ovenweigh againcalculate Volume of water from weight of evaporated water.this is your void space of sand/gravel mixthis will be the optimum amount of schment/water to add to DRY sand/gravel.my guess is it would give a higher strength mix ~4000 psiI am NOT a Mason but I am 1/2 Italian, which is better!!.
.
"After the laws of Physics, everything else is opinion" -Neil deGrasse Tyson
.
.
.
If Pasta and Antipasta meet is it the end of the Universe???
That's actually pretty good. <G>
Pizza cake. Ratio of 5 shovels of 60/40 gravel to one shovel of ceement tossed into the mixer. I don't believe in those diluted down ceement formulas that use 23 shovels to 3 shovels. That's for municipal workers whom get annual salary increases, retirement, full healthcare, and time off whenever their need scratching. They get paid to go back and replace the cracked stuff the next year. Great job security.
Hey, thanks. 'ppreciate it.
And Breaktime fills in the empty space in my head when it's snowing. <G>
My eyes are gonna fall out, been staring at this screen so long.
It just keeps coming, Thought I was leaving this stuff in Utah, it's followed me here.
Joe H
With a round shovel, 5 for me.
Thanks.I'm setting some steel (W8x48) piles in a not-so-accessible location. The concrete will be carried down the ravine in a skid steer (we think, anyway). It's steep, and way too far to pump.It was 13 degrees outside this morning, and we're supposed to do this on Tuesday. Gonna heat the sand up good and mix in a little Thermalube in hot water, then heat the holes up a bit. Already dropped the sand/gravel on some scrap 8" steel pipe, run the roofing torch down the pipe, wait half an hour, and it's all good.So how rich do you think this stuff needs to be?
Hey Cat, what part of this big blue marble do you call home? Sounds like you are north of here?Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
Repairs, Remodeling, Restorations
They kill Prophets, for Profits.
Northern New Mexico, above 7,000 feet.Similar seasonal climate as Great Barrington, MA, except dryer and more sunshine.
Cool..you got the nosebleed seats.
I think I'm right at about 1000 ft here, I get headaches much higher up(G). We have similar winter here at 38 N.LAT as we did down in the NC mtns. But there it was 4,110 ft. and that negated the more southern LAT.Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
Repairs, Remodeling, Restorations
They kill Prophets, for Profits.
i have such a box.
a "mongo
i have such a box.
a "mongo box" after his insights on concrete mix for counters.
mine is 3/4 ply and exact 1x1x1 foot.
i converted shovels to box to 5 gal buckets.
2 5 gal buckets about 2/3 full is a cubic foot.
my buckets have marker lines @ quarters.
shovels never really did it for me...
I generally don't think about cubic feet when I'm mixing batches, just how many shovels of each ingredient and eye it up as to how much I need at the time. That way it doesn't matter what shovel I use and I don't need a box to measure. I mostly need cu' only for estimating and such. Just my 2c.